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The Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies

Few months ago, I travelled to London in a business trip, and we were lucky to have a small tour in The Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies.

The Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies provides a meeting point between the Islamic and Western worlds of learning. Through good scholarship it promotes a more informed understanding of Islam – its culture and civilisation.
This is the center’s message on its homepage: http://www.oxcis.ac.uk/

It was established in 1985 to encourage the scholarly study of Islam and the Islamic world. Worth noting that The Prince of Wales is the Patron of the Centre…
You can browse its programs and you’ll see a large number of publications, lectures, seminars,,, etc

What interested me the most during my visit is the new building. It was designed to merge the traditional Islamic architecture and the modern utilities in a fine mixture that shows beauty and simplicity. It also aimed at revoking the old styles of teaching in Islamic universities which emphasizes the relationship between the professor and the student, that is the most critical part of the learning process.

I remember that the architect was an Egyptian engineer, but unfortunately I don’t recall his name. I hope that Egyptian universities would learn from this example that studied the Islamic heritage and brought it forward with all that the new tech offered.